Flutesong
by Mistbender
Summary: Manami is a shy girl who just can't work up the nerve to meet Teo, whom she has a huge crush on.
1. Running until finally caught

Manami still could not approach the one boy that she always wanted to talk to, but always ran from. Just as her father had given her the candle section and a half of free time so that she could talk to him, she still ran. She was currently hiding in a dark, hidden away section of the temple that she always went to to hide from the boy. Her heart was thudding in her ears, and she could not breathe at a normal speed yet. This may have been why she didn't hear his wheels over the cobblestones as he effectively cornered her.  
"Why did you run?" His voice from behind startled her. She whipped around, and finding herself trapped, slid down the wall and curled into a ball.

"I – I can't tell you." She murmured quietly. Teo wheeled his chair closer to her, to try to comfort her.  
"Why not?" he asked gently.  
"It's . . . complicated." She whispered, nearly hard to hear now. He reached his hand out and put it on her shoulder, which she immediately stiffened at. Dismayed that such a lovely girl would not feel comfortable with his touch, he removed his hand. Manami had been looking for an opening to flee as soon as she could, and his moving closer did provide that opportunity.  
"I'm . . . I'm sorry." She said as she slid between the back of his chair and the wall, fleeing once again. She did not see him look after her fleeing form and slump down in disappointment.

"Mom? Can I ask you something?" Manami asked as she walked into the separate quarters that the pregnant woman had, away from her husband and Manami's father.  
"Sure baby, what's on your mind?" Sarasri pulled her daughter closer to her side, inviting her to sit next to her on the bed. Manami did so, and bowed her head, because it was a tough thing to talk about.  
"Well, there's this guy I like – "she started, when her mother interrupted.  
"Oh is this that cute boy with the lovely green eyes?" she asked her daughter with more than a little hope in her voice.  
"Um, no, mom. He has grey eyes, like me. I think. But I don't know how to talk to him. I'm so dreadfully shy that I can't think when he's around." Manami blushed furiously at this.  
"Aw, honey, you can't live your life running from your feelings. Maybe he's just as shy as you are, and you don't know it yet." Sarasri hugged her daughter. "So how tall is he?" she gushed.  
"I – I don't know mom, he's in a chair every time I see him." Manami stuttered. She knew her mom would not like that the boy was crippled. Sarasri blinked a few times, thinking why the boy would be in a chair so often.  
"Would this boy be the son of the temple's leader?" She asked her daughter with trepidation. Manami's only answer was folding in on herself. Knowing this to be a yes, Sarasri sighed. "I know it can be tough to show interest in a boy." She rummaged around in a bag by her side and pulled out a long cloth parcel. "Here, practice this for a while, maybe he'll come up to you, and start talking to you first. It's my great grandmother's flute – "she grinned "it helped me win over your father." Manami gratefully took the flute and left her mother to rest.

Finding another secluded spot hidden away in the temple, Manami pulled out the flute. It was lovely, carved of bamboo, inlaid with a shiny opalescent shell, and polished to a high shine. Putting the mouthpiece to her lips, Manami tentatively blew a few notes. Some of them sounded off, so she tried changing where her fingers were, and noticed that the notes changed wonderfully when she did so. Smiling to herself, she slowly started learning all the notes of the flute, and thought of ways to string them together. She became so enraptured in the notes that she was playing, that she did not notice Teo come up behind her and listen to her flute playing. At one pause, he nearly opened his mouth to speak, but she started playing again, a lighthearted tune, that reminded him of gliding among the clouds. Getting lost in her song, he barely noticed when she stopped, and grinned.  
"Reminds me of him . . . whenever I find out what his name is, I'm going to call that his song." She said wistfully. Hearing the longing in her voice raised Teo's spirits just a little.  
"Teo." He said. Once again, Manami whipped around, startled by his voice.  
"What?" she asked, somewhat fearfully.  
"My name is Teo. What's yours?" he asked, gently, almost as if she were a scared rabbit-squirrel that he was trying to tame.  
"Ma – Manami." She told him. "How . . . how did you know? That I meant you, I mean." She asked, tentatively, as she slowly started to relax.  
"I don't know, it just reminded me of how I feel every time I glide amongst the clouds." He admitted almost shyly. Manami offered a shy smile.

"Is . . . is it pretty? Up there, I mean?" she asked, blushing. She didn't see the flush spread like wildfire across his cheeks as he thought of taking her up in his chair with him.  
"Yeah, it's pretty nice. I can think of one way it could be prettier though." He whispered the last part. Manami barely heard it, but didn't say anything about it. She hid her blushing cheeks behind a curtain of her long auburn hair. A long silence stretched between the teens.  
"Would you like to see it?" Teo tentatively asked, trying to break the silence. Manami could feel the flush in her cheeks deepen, and folded in upon herself. Teo's face fell though, not knowing that as far as she'd folded in, that she was incredibly pleased and excited to go. He turned slowly, intending to leave, when Manami's head shot up again.  
"Don't go. At least . . . not . . . without . . . me?" She drifted off, after calling after him. He turned back around with a smile on his face, and Manami blushed again. "I'd love to see it." She smiled at him. In absolute excitement, he kicked up a 'wheelie' and rolled back over to where she stood. She slowly extended her hand, still covered by her long, flowy sleeve. Teo reached up inside the sleeve to take her hand, and lead her over to the gliding platform.  
"I don't know how to use the gliders yet." She told him, biting her lower lip.

"Not a problem." He replied with a mischievous smile before he pulled her by the hand into his lap. Manami's cheeks flared bright red, and did not ease off, but got a little darker when she yelped as he rolled right off the edge of the platform. Looking over at her, Teo laughed.  
"You can't see what it's like with your eyes closed like that." Manami opened her eyes to find out that she'd clutched at his shirt and buried her face in his chest. She tried straightening up, but the wind blew her back against him. With their faces mere inches away, they both blushed. Manami looked away first, and noticed just how high up they were.  
"Wow . . . we're even above some of the clouds." She whispered in awe. "They're so pretty." She added when Teo didn't say anything.  
"I can think of something prettier." He murmured. Manami looked at him again, only to be surprised when he leaned forward and kissed her. She froze, not knowing what to do. He pulled away, and looking a little sad, looked down at the clouds.  
"I'm sorry . . . I didn't . . . I've never been kissed before." She said softly. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do." She looked up at him again. He slowly looked back at her, and this time, she leaned towards him. They kissed softly; almost afraid of what would happen.

They drifted for a while among the air currents, not even talking, just enjoying the scenery – Manami for the first time, and for Teo, it was almost like the first time all over again. It wasn't until the sun hit Manami's eyes that she remembered her promise to her father.

"Oh no, I forgot! I should have been home by two o'candle! My dad is going to be so mad!" she cried in distress. Wordlessly, Teo landed and Manami took off like a shot.

"Wait, I can get you there faster!" he called after her, trying to get the glider off of his chair. She kept running though, and was halfway there when he caught up to her. He didn't say anything, just pulled her back onto his legs and sped down the hallways. She blindly clutched at him, terrified of what her father would say.

Tsuyo was standing with his crutches outside of the doorway to their living space when Teo skidded to a stop. He looked upset and just about yanked Manami away from the boy.

"I'm so sorry dad, I lost track of time. There isn't a set of candles in the sky . . ." Manami tried to explain to her dad, but he wouldn't listen.

"Get inside, young lady." He told her quietly, but angrily. As Manami fled, she glanced at Teo with a look of apology on her face. He returned a look of sorrowful understanding before turning to her father.

"Sir, I'd like to offer my apologies. It was my fault that Manami was out so late." He offered with as close to a bow of respect as he could offer.

"And just what were you doing with my daughter for so long that she couldn't return to assist her poor crippled old man?" Tsuyo demanded. Teo looked a little taken aback by this. He'd lived with being unable to walk since before he could remember, and this man was complaining that he didn't have both legs.

"We were out gliding, but if you're interested, my dad could probably do something for your leg, if you really want." He offered. Tsuyo scoffed.

"No one can fix this, I'll be stuck hobbling around like an old cripple forever." He sneered. The annoyance started to show on Teo's face.

"At least sir, you can stand. That's more than I can do." He told the man before turning around sharply and wheeling away. Tsuyo thought about this for a moment, and the shock of realization passed over his face. He slowly limped his way back into their living quarters and back to his favorite chair. Hisao was peeking around the corner of the hallway where he and his sister slept. The look on his face told Tsuyo that Manami was crying on her bed again.

"Tell your sister I want to see her." He told his son gruffly. Hisao disappeared quickly. After a few minutes Manami crept in, sadness and pain etched on her face.

"Yes, dad?" she asked quietly.

"I don't ask you for much, just to be here when I need you. Your mother can't do the work that she usually does, and I can't do any work at all. The least you can do as our oldest child is to be here for us and do what we need you to do." He told her.

"Yes sir." She replied even quieter than before.

"And stop hanging around that boy. He's disrespectful."

"No." she whispered.

"What did you say?"

"I said no." she stated, getting a bit louder. Tsuyo's face turned red in anger.

"You will listen to me, Manami."

"Or what? You need me. Hisao can't do what I do, nor would you make him do it. I will not stop seeing Teo, now that I've finally started talking to him, and you can't make me!" she yelled at her own father before running out the door again.

Teo had returned to the gliding platform, looking out at the setting sun when his father came up behind him.

"Not up in the sky like usual?" Ru asked his son. He rested his hand on his son's shoulder when Teo didn't answer immediately.

"No . . . I had a good flight earlier." There was a brief silence before he continued. "A good flight indeed. Dad, do you know any way to fix half a leg?" he asked, turning up to his father. Ru pondered the question for a little while.

"I think I could figure out something, why?" he was curious, since his son had both legs, albeit useless ones.

"Well, one of the men that came in has only half of his right leg, and he makes his daughter do everything for him. I'd like to try to help him." Ru smiled to himself at this. He knew well the man that his son was referring to, and had met the man and his family when they'd first come in. Tsuyo's daughter was very pretty, although shy, and he'd thought that perhaps his son could bring her out of her shell.

"Sure, I'll give it a shot. See if you can get some sort of measurement for what he needs, and if he needs some sort of knee." He grinned at his son before turning to walk off. Just then, Manami ran past the doorway to the platform, sobbing loudly. Ru looked at his son, who'd spun as fast as his chair would allow. Teo had a concerned look on his face, and it was plainly obvious that he would go after the girl. Things were going better than Ru could ever have planned for his son and Tsuyo's daughter.

As his son raced away, Ru planned to have a visit with Tsuyo, as soon as he finished his latest invention.

Teo tried to keep up with Manami, but with all of the turns she was taking, he had to go much slower than he liked. After a number of turns, he lost her. Sighing in frustration, he started a slow search for her. After what seemed like hours, he started to give up. Heading back towards his home, the faint sound of flute music came to him. The song held such sorrow and pain that he nearly cried at the sound. Following the sound, he finally came across Manami, who was sitting on a balcony railing, dangerously close to the edge. Not wanting to startle her into falling, he slowly wheeled closer to her, while she continued playing the hauntingly sorrowful music. Just as he'd reached the railing of the balcony, she stopped playing. Teo stopped rolling across the floor, afraid to make a sound.

"It's not fair. He can't keep me away from the only thing I've ever wanted for myself." Manami said to herself, and then hugged herself. She tried playing the lighthearted tune she'd played earlier, when they had first spoken to each other, but it came out shaky and sad. A lone tear crept down Teo's cheek as he heard how much her heart must be breaking.

Ru knocked on Tsuyo's door, hoping that the man would open the door. Instead, his small son, Hisao opened the door.

"Hi there, is your dad here?" Ru asked the boy with a huge grin. Hisao said nothing, but his face was worried as his eyes darted off to the right. He silently opened the door wider, and Ru peeked inside. Tsuyo was surrounded by shattered pieces of wood – the remains of his crutches. The man's face was nearing purple with rage. Ru could understand why his son had been so quiet. Tsuyo did not look like a very nice man to deal with at this point in time. This did not deter the inventor though.

"Hey, Tsuyo, you need something to replace those crutches?" he asked jovially as he stepped into the living space. Tsuyo looked up at Ru with livid eyes.

"Where is that little cripple of yours?" he demanded. "He's turned my daughter into the most disrespectful daughter I've ever seen!" What was left of Ru's eyebrows shot up in astonishment.

"My son has a name, and I'll thank you to use it." Ru said with a hint of steel in his voice. "As for your daughter, all I've seen of her is when she was shyer than a frightened squirrel-rabbit, and jumping at the merest squeak. If you want a servant, get one, but don't turn your daughter into a slave. I came here at my son's behest to try to help you with your leg. I hoped that his trying to extend that bit of peace to you would help you. I see it hasn't. I've been pushed around by the Fire Nation, I won't be pushed around by someone from my own nation. If my son has found your daughter by now, I will not hesitate to take her in for the night. She does not need to be around you when you're like this." Ru glared down at Tsuyo before turning and leaving, ruffling Hisao's hair before he left.

Lowering the flute, Manami was tempted to throw it. The one thing that had ever brought her joy, also brought pain. Much as she didn't want to, she planned on hiding from Teo for a few days. She didn't want him seeing her like this. As she turned to put her flute back into her bag, she didn't realize she'd been so close to the edge of the railing, and slipped. Screaming suddenly, she grabbed frantically at the railing, when she felt a pair of strong hands grab her wrists.

"I got you. I'll try to pull you up, okay?" she heard Teo tell her worriedly. Distantly, she heard the flute hit the rocks well below her. Tears started to flow unchecked down her cheeks as she was pulled up slowly. She barely noticed that once she was safely on the balcony again that she was pulled into a tight hug. The tears just would not stop, even when Teo had stopped hugging her and was looking at her in concern.

"My flute . . ." she whispered, remembering the hollow whistling as it had fallen. Her eyes were shuttered and still the tears kept coming. Teo just pulled her into his lap, rolled over to her bag and put that in his lap as well, before slowly heading back into the main sections of the temple.

Ru found them later, wandering through the hallways, Manami looking like a small child in his son's arms. Teo looked up at his father, and nearly everything that happened showed on his face. Not wanting to disturb the girl, Ru motioned to his son that they would just head home with her.

The next morning, Manami woke in a strange place, which scared her. Being as quiet as she could, she tried to find the front door to escape. She came across Ru working in his workshop, but did not say anything to him. Just as she'd passed the doorway, he called out to her.

"Manami? You're welcome to stay here with us until your father calms down some." He offered. She slowly crept back to the doorway.

"I – I shouldn't. He'll be angry . . . I have to make his special tea . . ." she stammered out. Ru put down what he was working on and walked over to her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he looked her in the eyes before speaking again.

"Your father has been using you, and it's not right. He needs to learn to be more self sufficient, like my son has. I'm making him a leg replacement, so he can get around better."

"I should . . . get some of my clothes, at least." She murmured. Ru nodded, and offered to escort her there and back, but she declined, stating that she could slip past her father better alone. Teo wheeled up to his father shortly after.

"Where'd Manami go?" he asked.

"Just to get some clothes. She should be back shortly." Ru told his son, chiseling a small bit of wood off of a section of the wood and metal leg replacement.

"I think while she's gone, I'm going to try to find her flute. It fell from the balcony over towards the east." Teo offered as an explanation as he started to wheel away.

"I should come with you, that ground down there is really uneven, and I wouldn't want to see you tip over and get stuck down there." Ru said, putting down his tools. Teo looked a bit uncomfortable at this.

"I'd actually rather do this alone, dad. I mean, this is kind of a special thing for her, and . . ." he trailed off, not sure how to word his thoughts. Ru understood though.

"You want to do this special thing for her to show how much you care about her, huh?" he smiled. "Sometimes I'm amazed by how much you've grown up." The understanding and words of praise made Teo smile. Reaching up, he hugged his father, and wheeled off. He was already halfway down the path to the base of the mountain that the temple was built upon when Manami came back to their home. She looked around after Ru opened the door for her, arms still full of clothes.

"W-where's Teo?" she asked quietly. Knowing that his son would probably want to surprise the girl with her flute, so he dissembled a little for his son's sake.

"He went off to do something important, he should be back soon. Let me show you where you can put your clothes." Ru led the shy girl to their guest room, where she'd woken up that morning. She had brought with her a few little figurines that she'd been given by her grandfather before he'd died in the raid. Some of them were figurines of the previous avatars, and quite a few looked almost like Air Nomad type figurines. This intrigued Ru, since his wife had owned similar figurines as well. He didn't want to bring up any painful memories for the girl, or himself, so he remained quiet about it. He went back to his workshop after he was sure Manami had settled in decently enough, about to add the knee hinge to her father's replacement leg.

Looking up often, to make sure of where he was, Teo worked his way across rocky, uneven ground in search of the bamboo flute that had dropped when Manami had nearly fallen. As he neared the eastern balcony, he wheeled forward without looking, and tipped over. Muttering at himself in frustration, he pulled the chair over to a relatively flat area before pulling himself back into it. Sighing, he told himself to remember to watch where he was going, when he saw a slight glint about six of his chairlengths away. He picked his way across the ground towards the glint, which turned out to be one of the shell pieces from Manami's flute. Cradling the tiny piece of shell, he was reminded how close Manami had been to death. He looked everywhere around the area he'd found the shell piece, and found most of the pieces of flute. Some had splintered into pieces too small to find, but those that he did find, he carefully put into a small bag of soft but strong cloth.


	2. The Lengths a Guy will go to

Tucking the bag away inside his shirt, he slowly picked his way back across the rocky landscape as the sun started to disappear behind some of the higher mountains around his home. By the time he got up to the temple, it was dusk. Ru was waiting for him in the hallway.

"Did you find it?" he asked his son as he rolled up to his father.

"Yeah, but it's in pieces. I don't know how I could possibly give it to her now." Teo sighed.

"Hmm, let me see how it looks." Ru requested. Teo pulled out the bag from his shirt and handed it to his father. Reaching in, Ru pulled out a few of the bamboo shards that had survived. "It may not be fixable, but maybe rebuildable. I'll need your help though." Teo cheered up when he was told this, and gladly followed his father back to his workshop.

Manami was curled up in a small ball on a chair in the living area when Teo entered his home. Hearing the now-familiar sound of his wheels on the stone, she looked up and with a smile, launched herself at him in a hug. The chair rolled backwards a couple feet from the force of her excitement. The surprise had Teo laughing and smiling while he hugged her back. Ru smiled and took the bag into his workshop. He knew his son would be in as soon as Manami was finished welcoming him back.

"I missed you." She whispered into his neck, afraid that if she let go, he'd vanish again. He was her only gift to herself, and she planned on keeping him around as much as she could. Her attachment warmed his heart, yet he had to fix the flute too.

"I'm glad to see you too." He chuckled. "But isn't it getting a bit late?" Manami pulled away and smiled at him again.

"You're right, I should get some sleep." She kissed him goodnight on the cheek, and discreetly dropped one of her carvings into his lap, where she knew he wouldn't notice it straight off. The carving was of a sky bison and its rider – a young male air nomad with disheveled hair. The hair had been stained dark with walnut juice, and she'd thought recently that the boy looked like Teo. She retreated to the guest room to sleep, and Teo watched her go. Once she was gone, he headed into his father's workshop.

Ru had already sorted the pieces of the flute into some semblance of its original state when his son rolled in. Glancing over at his son, he noticed the carving in his lap.

"What's that?" he asked Teo, nodding at his lap. Teo looked down and was surprised to see that there was a carving there. Picking it up, he looked at it closely. The carving looked almost like he would, if he'd have been capable of walking and had a sky bison like Aang did. It made him smile to look at it.

"Must be a gift from Manami." He murmured. After admiring the craftsmanship a few minutes longer, he tucked it between his leg and the side of his chair, and turned to his father. "Let's see what we can do with that flute." Ru smiled and started to show his son lengths of bamboo that he'd picked out that might work for a replacement flute. Shortly after picking a length of bamboo, Teo started to yawn.

"Looks like Manami isn't the only one that needs their sleep." Ru chuckled at his son. Teo smiled and nodded, said goodnight to his father, and rolled off to bed.

The next morning, Manami was the first to notice the small scrap of paper that had been slid underneath the door. The writing was childishly careful, and read 'I miss you, Oneechan. Can we meet where the gliders fly today? –Hisao' Manami smiled, but felt sad that she'd forgotten about her little brother. She knew that he'd be there most of the day, having no demands on his time at all. After explaining to Ru and Teo where she was going, she jogged off to see her little brother. They were glad to see her visiting her brother, because it also gave them time to work on her flute without her knowing about it.

"I hope it looks nearly as nice as the original did." Teo commented while carefully carving out a pattern of vines and places for the shell pieces to go on one of a few blanks they were working on. Ru had to laugh.

"You really like this girl, don't you?" he asked, making his son blush.

"Well, she's the first to treat me like a real person, not just some cripple. She really seems to understand that I'm not defined by my chair." He shrugged.

"It's about time some nice girl noticed that you're not just a pair of wheels with wings." Ru said, half jokingly. Teo playfully shoved his father over a few steps. Ru returned the favor, and they played around like that for a short time before going back to the carving, father watching his son's work for a better idea of the flute's original design.

Seeing her little brother watching some of the gliders, Manami jogged over to him and hugged him happily. After hugging his sister tightly, Hisao squirmed away.

"Dad's really mad at himself for making you run away." He told her solemnly.

"I'd come home, but it would be the same thing as always, and I don't want that. Not anymore." Hisao nodded.

"I don't want to see him do that anymore either, Oneechan." They walked around the temple and talked further about how their father was behaving, and how much longer until their new sibling came along.

There was a question bothering Teo, and he wanted to ask his father about it, but it was an awkward question at best. Ru noticed something was bothering his son.

"Anything on your mind?" he asked, when Teo had been trying to make one of the carvings a little too perfect. Teo put down his flute blank and tried to start a few times before finally figuring how he should word his question.

"Dad, I know about that husband stuff, and it kind of makes me worry . . . am I – I mean, would I be able to do that?" Ru nearly dropped the blank he was working on in surprise. He never expected this question at all. It was apparent to Teo that he'd embarrassed and flustered his dad, since his ears had gone red and he was stammering. "Nevermind, it's really not that important, I guess." He told his dad to try to get him to calm down.

"No, no, it should be at least somewhat important." Ru rubbed the top of his head in thought. "I honestly couldn't tell you . . . but I think it'll become apparent soon enough." He offered. The two continued working on their flutes in silence, taking in what the other had said.

Just before evening meal, Manami came back, smiling. Ru and Teo had finished adding the shell pieces and preserving the flute that they'd decided to use. It had been one of the ones that Teo had carved, and it had a very slight, barely noticeable carving of both Teo's and Manami's name on it. They'd wrapped it in a soft piece of cloth, the same color as Manami's dress, a pale olive color. The package was laying on the pallet she was using, with a handwritten note on it saying simply 'From Teo.'


	3. Replaced, yet still not repaired

Manami was finally starting to warm up to Ru during their evening meal of picken, rice, and tea. She smiled at him a few times, and didn't hide as much as she used to. She hadn't gone into the room yet, so she didn't know about her gift, and the waiting was almost killing Teo. He wanted to see the joy on her face when she saw the flute that he'd painstakingly carved the whole day long. Of course, it didn't help that his dad had made a sweet rice pudding as well for dessert. The waiting was just about driving him nuts, and he was certain that it showed, but she never asked or looked at him oddly. Ru picked up on his son's anxiousness though, and couldn't help but laugh internally.

Once everything had been cleared away, Manami insisted on telling the both of them everything that she and her little brother had talked about. While she was telling them about her talks with Hisao, she started to notice Teo getting a bit antsy. She glanced at him oddly before asking

"Something wrong?" Teo stopped fidgeting, startled.

"No, nothings wrong . . ." he replied, making sure not to fidget anymore. She looked at him oddly once more, and summarized everything else that she and Hisao had talked about. Shortly after, Teo wheeled off to the privy.

"What's up with him?" she asked Ru. The man grinned, but didn't want to give anything away.

"He's just waiting on something. It always seems to make him antsy." He chuckled. Manami shrugged, not sure what to say. "It's getting a bit late, maybe if you're going to stay up longer, you should at least be ready for bed." Ru suggested to her. She walked off towards the room she was using as Teo was returning from the privy. The merest smile crossed Teo's face as he noticed her turning down the hallway to her room. Rolling into the living space, Ru saw him nervously biting his lip with a smile, just before a squeal of pure joy came from Manami's room.

Walking into her room, Manami saw the olive green package on her bed. Reading the note, she started carefully unwrapping it. When the first glint of opalescent shell and carefully preserved bamboo showed through, the color drained from her face in shock.

"Oh my lords . . ." she whispered as she started unwrapping the bamboo faster. Tears came to her eyes as she held the fully unwrapped flute. It wasn't until she saw the small, discreet carving of her name with Teo's on the underside of the flute that she let out a loud squeal. Clutching the precious flute to her chest, she ran out to the living space and threw herself at the young boy.

Teo was completely unprepared for the girl flying at him, and was taken by surprise when the force of her excitement knocked him completely onto his back. The sight of his son being bowled so completely over, and the shock on his face had Ru laughing hard enough to split a gut. They didn't notice the knock on the door until the laughter and excitement had died down some. Manami helped Teo back into an upright position as Ru answered the door. The kids laughed and hugged once more just as Ru asked Tsuyo why he was there.

Manami immediately stiffened and slid away when she heard her father's name. Both Teo and Tsuyo could see the fear in her eyes before she fell into her usual submissive posture that she'd had when living with her father – sitting on her knees, head bowed, hands in her lap. Tsuyo's face flushed, and he bowed his head in shame.

"I was just wondering if you'd finished that leg that your son was so generous to offer to look into." He mumbled at the floor. Glancing down, Ru noticed that Hisao had been acting as Tsuyo's leg on the long walk. He frowned at this and walked back to his workshop to get the leg. Nobody said anything while Ru was gone, but a lot was said nonetheless. Manami's fear and submissiveness was a tangible thing. Teo had his arm around Manami's hunched shoulders and it was clear that he was unhappy with Tsuyo. Hisao looked at his sister with sympathy, and a little strain from helping his father stand. Tsuyo looked beaten and sad. The silence hit Ru like a brick wall when he returned with the stained wooden leg. The trepidation showed on his face as he walked over to Tsuyo.

"I think sometime, there should be some resolution between you and your daughter. Not that I want her to go, but there shouldn't be such stress between you two." Ru murmured to Tsuyo as he strapped the leg to Tsuyo's stump. Tsuyo only nodded before thanking Ru and slowly walking away, Hisao following slowly afterward after glancing back at his sister.

"I think your father has been really thinking about what he's done." Ru told Manami as he closed the door after them. She was quiet for a few minutes before answering.

"I hope so. I wish I could tell him how much I was hurt by what he did." She whispered, slowly getting to her feet. Teo reached for her hand, if only to give her some kind of hope. She smiled when he gently squeezed her hand, but then left to her room. Minutes later, plaintive music came drifting down the hallway, sorrowful and low. Teo started to head in after her, but his father stopped him.

"I think she'd rather just play out her hurt right now." Ru told his son.


	4. Moments of oddness

Both Teo and Ru went to bed as normal that night, letting Manami settle in on her own. Manami however sat up through part of the night, wondering what she could possibly talk to her dad about. Worrying and wondering, she decided she needed to talk to someone about it. Taking a small candle with her, she silently slid down the hallway to Teo's room.

Peeking in, she noticed that Teo was already asleep. She started to turn back when she noticed the carving she'd given him sitting on his desk. Smiling slightly, she slid into the room. Much like the room she was using now, there was a chest of drawers, a desk, and his bed, but unlike her room, his chair was sitting at the foot of his bed. Silently giggling to herself, she sat in it, noticing it was more comfortable than she'd given it credit for. She tried pushing it a couple inches, but it was heavier than she though as well. She got out of the chair and walked over to the bedside. Kneeling down, she gazed at Teo's sleeping form. She wanted to talk to him, but waking him seemed like such a crime. With one last wistful glance back at him, Manami slipped back out of his room.

Once she got back to the room she was using, she curled up under the blanket and sat awake, wondering what she was going to do with her father. She didn't remember falling asleep.

The next morning, Manami was late to wake. Carefully slipping out unnoticed, or so she thought, she went to go see her mother. As she walked into her mother's maternity quarters, her mother let out a sharp gasp.

"It hasn't been that long since I've visited, has it?" Manami asked her.

"No, it's not – that." Sarasri gasped. "My water broke!" she yelped out. Manami's eyes grew big, and started running about looking for a midwife. She couldn't find one though, which scared her.

"Manami!" her mother called from her room again. She ran in to see what her mother needed. "I've done this twice before; I can help you help me." She grunted out. Manami nodded silently as she started following her mother's strained directions. As Sarasri told her daughter to keep an eye on juncture of her thighs, Teo finally came to the door. Sarasri gave out a yelp in pain just as the top of her baby's head started to show. Worried that someone was being seriously hurt, he rolled into the room.

"I can see . . . it looks like a hairy skin bubble, mom." Manami said.

"That's – ugh – the top of it's head." Sarasri strained out.

"Now what?" the girl asked her mother. Her only response was a groan as she bore down again. Teo could only watch, stunned. He was not unnoticed though, much as he'd noticed Manami leaving, Sarasri had noticed his entrance. She didn't mention him though, focusing more on giving birth to her third child. "There's a face! I see a head!" Manami called out, partially in joy, partially weirded out.

"Hold . . . your sibling's . . . head." Sarasri grunted, just before bearing down another time. Slowly, Manami helped her mother birth the child of her assault. Sarasri was beautiful, with dark brown hair with red highlights, and grayish green eyes. It was easy to see why someone would want to be with her, but the atrocities committed against her were unbelievable. She bounced back from it fast though, and embraced the child growing within her. Even if the child was a firebender, she would still love it anyways. Once the child was born, Sarasri directed her daughter to tie the child's cord in two places, and cut it between the ties. Manami handed the new baby girl to her mother for it's first feeding, and slowly cleaned up the mess. It was shortly after this that she finally noticed Teo sitting there, mouth agape. She stood there staring at him for a minute before walking over to him.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, worried about how much he'd seen. He blinked a few times before waking up from the daze he'd been in.

"I – I saw you leave, and wondered where you were going." He told her, still a bit stunned. Manami then realized he'd seen most, if not the whole thing.


	5. And the angst starts

The silence stretched between them, and slowly, she saw his spirits sink.

"I'll see you, um, later, ok? I have to go think about some things . . ." he drifted off, and wheeled away. Confused, she slowly followed after him, careful not to make a sound. He went into parts of the temple that she hadn't known about, and were through some very discreet openings that she had to crouch to get through. He rolled through them without even ducking though. He stopped in a beautiful room, with a lot of paintings on the walls of Airbenders and sky bison. Manami sat off to the side, where she wouldn't be noticed, and watched him. Teo sighed, obviously not happy.

"Will I ever be able to do that? Will I ever be able to watch my wife give birth? Well, give birth to a child of mine." He sighed again, and looked up at the ceiling. "I wish I had some answers. Not knowing is terrible. I don't even know if . . . well, if that part of me works." He lowered his head sorrowfully. Wiping a silent tear away, he started talking to himself again. "I never had to worry about this before. I never had . . . never had a girl I could imagine myself marrying before." Manami's eyes shot open and she blinked a few times at this. "Why am I cursed with this stupid chair?" he yelled.

Worried that she'd be spotted, Manami crept out through the small hallway and back to the main parts of the temple. A few times, she stopped and wiped away tears that threatened to fall. Sitting in a corner trembling in shock, her face white. She sat like this for nearly an hour, not sure what she was going to do when she ran into Teo again. She couldn't let him know that she'd heard him talking to himself. Stumbling back to her mother's room, she didn't see Teo returning from the room that he'd let out his angst in, nor did he notice her erratic movements.

"Mom?" Manami asked as she leaned against the doorway.

"Come in, honey." Sarasri said as the midwife left. "Your sister is perfectly healthy, and you did a wonderful job helping me." She beamed.

"Um, I have a . . . dilemma, I guess. I – well, I overheard some things, and I think I shouldn't have heard them." Manami fidgeted nervously. Sarasri looked at her daughter with a confused look.

"Does this have to do with that boy that watched us? The crippled boy?" she asked. Manami sighed.

"Yes . . . and kind of about what he saw." Sarasri pulled her daughter onto the bed with her and hugged her close.

"Tell me about what he said. I could possibly help you." Manami told her mother almost everything that he'd said, leaving out the part that he'd said about marriage. There was plenty of time for that later, maybe in a few months when she turned fourteen.

"Wow, that is a dilemma." Sarasri said, thinking to herself. "Well . . . if he can use the privy by himself, I'm pretty sure he'd be fine." She said. "It's the same thing, in a way." Manami nodded, understanding well. "Now, until he brings up anything to do with that, don't mention anything. It would be horribly awkward." She hugged her daughter again, and shooed her off. "I have to get my stuff together and move back to our home. I'm sure your father would be happy to see me back. And to see his new daughter, Xia." She said, showing the black haired baby to her. Manami kissed Xia on the head before leaving for Ru's living space again.


End file.
